Running Total Collective Artist Debt

There are countless forms of debt. Some are beneficial and some are harmful. There are emotional debts, intellectual debts, and monetary debts. While all artists are indebted to the brave and creative minds that came before them, in today's art world artists may also find themselves facing financial losses in order to keep creating and exhibiting. In a society where the ruling elites can, without pause, pay tens of millions of dollars for naming rights at museums and concert halls, is it too much to hope that artists who create not just tangible works, but cultural awareness, should find more welcoming and democratic venues for their ideas? The Whitney Biennial should be a free, unrestricted open call for every living American artist.

Would your work look different if you weren't in debt?:

Probably not. I developed my work, in part, as a way to continue working without spending a lot of money on materials. I have always felt affected by America's culture-of-excess and re-purposing materials that speak to this excess is central to the concept.